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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
US government main sponsor of Al-Qaeda |
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10/22/02 at 10:01:46 |
[slm] Many errors in Dr Gunaratna's book, says political scientist Kuala Lumpur, Oct 19, IRNA -- The book "Inside Al-Qaeda, Global Network of Terror," authored by Dr Rohan Gunaratna, is heavily based on extracts of newspaper reports, features articles, government and other documents on Al-Qaeda. The rest are the author's views.Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist Dr FarishA. Noor said the first part of the book has a lot of research on Al-Qaeda. "Gunaratna also fingered the US government as the main sponsor and benefactor of Al-Qaeda and had used the group in numerous covert operations in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Eastern Europe as Washington's dirty proxy war against the Soviets (during the latter's occupation of Afghanistan)," Dr Farish told the Malaysia's afternoon tabloid, the Malay Mail, on Saturday. But, he said, the other half of the book had the author trying to weave an elaborate narrative on Al-Qaeda's alleged linkages with other Islamic organizations and movements worldwide. Farish said that there is a dubious political message imbedded within the book and a lack of historical understanding of why Muslim-US relations have gone sour. "The other major failure of the book is its attempt to construct an international network when there isn't any," he said. Farish said Gunaratna described Malaysia as "a victim of its own geo-politics and the operational base for Al-Qaeda in South-East Asia." "Among the `radical' and `militant' organizations that he lists as parts of this nebulous and decentralised network are the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM) and Malaysia's main opposition, Parti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS). "One of the organizations he cited is Angkatan Perpaduan Ummahor Muslim Unity Front (APU) which does not exist anymore." Farish said Gunaratna simply strings together Islamic movements that share similar concerns and causes. "He notes that PAS and ABIM had expressed sympathy for the Moro liberation struggle in the southern Philippines, led by groups like the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," said Farish."As Al-Qaeda is alleged to have links to MILF, he then links it with PAS and ABIM and the so-called "global network" arises instantlyas if by magic." Farish also charged that Gunaratna failed to understand the various movements and organizations he cited in his book. On Thursday, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi condemned the false allegations in the book which were used by the United Nations Security Council report implicating the Malaysian ruling coaltion Barisan Nasional (BN) with the Al-Qaeda terrorist movement. Malaysia has lodged a protest with the UN Security Council over a UN monitoring group report linking the BN to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Abdullah said it was totally unacceptable for the group to include the allegation, taken from a chart in Gunaratna's book, in their report to the council. He had said that "whoever wrote this book is irresponsible and totally ignorant of the situation in Malaysia. For the UN monitoring group to include this chart...is very much regrettable." Gunaratna is a senior fellow of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and also the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He is a frequent guest on CNN. Meanwhile, Gunaratna, who hails from Sri Lanka, in an interview with the Malay Mail declined to say how and where he had got the documents. He said he will hand the documents in his possession to the Malaysian government. However, he declined to say when or how he will do it. "The documents are basically from another government," he told The Malay Mail in Singapore where he was a speaker at a terrorism seminar on Thursday. However, on page 197 of his book, Gunaratna has a footnote indicating that he obtained the document entitled `MILF Linkages with Domestic and Foreign Non-Government and People's Organizations' from the directorate for intelligence of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other sources. In an interview with a Singapore television station on Friday, Gunaratna denied he had linked BN to the MILF, but said he mentioned the phrase "between MILF operatives and a few individuals in the Barisan Nasional parties." Gunaratna asked the Malaysian government to examine the issue to see if the mainstream political party has been infiltrated by the extremist Al-Qaeda organization. "I believe Malaysian and Indonesian political parties have been infiltrated by the extremist organization," he claimed. He said the facts in his book were based on "regional documents." "I have cited it (the sources) in my book. It is up to the Malaysian government to request to the government (from where the documents came) to examine it and take steps to protect the national security as there has been a growing trend of terrorist activities in this region," said Gunaratna. BN/LS http://www.irna.com/en/head/021019092757.ehe.shtml |
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